Breaking News English Lesson: Chips
Beach-goers saw a strange sight this week. A beach was covered in French fries. Thousands of bags of fries fell off of ships. Bad weather caused three containers from a ship to fall into the sea. One of the containers got to the beach. A local man found the fries. He said: "From a distance, it looked like the golden sand of a Caribbean beach." He said the chips and chip bags were 75 cm deep in some places.
Many volunteers are now cleaning the beach. The local man said the chips were a danger to the environment. He is worried about seals that live near the beach. He said: "If the seals see the bags, they will. try to eat them." A local official warned people to be careful. She said: "Food washing onto the beach may be harmful." She asked people to report any new food. Last month, thousands of bananas washed ashore near the same beach.
Try the same news story at these levels:
- https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0lxkl3gd6jo
- https://www.msn.com/en-gb/travel/news/nothing-compares-to-this-locals-left-stunned-after-thousands-of-chips-wash-up-on-sussex-beach/ar-AA1UtVyx
- https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/25775185.thousands-bags-chips-wash-beachy-head/
Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice activities, drag and drop activities, sentence jumbles, which word activities, text reconstructions, spelling, gap fills and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)
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News
"Much has been said and written on the utility of newspapers; but one principal advantage which might be derived from these publications has been neglected; we mean that of reading them in schools."
The Portland Eastern Herald (June 8, 1795)
"News is history in its first and best form, its vivid and fascinating form, and. history is the pale and tranquil reflection of it."
Mark Twain, in his autobiography (1906)
"Current events provide authentic learning experiences for students at all grade levels. In studying current events, students are required to use a range of cognitive, affective, critical thinking and research skills."
Haas, M. and Laughlin, M. (2000) Teaching Current Events: It's Status in Social Studies Today.
Phrase Matching Paragraph 1- Beach-goers saw
- A beach was covered
- Thousands of bags of fries
- bad
- One of the containers
- a local
- from a
- chip bags were 75 cm
- in French fries
- distance
- man
- fell off of ships
- deep in some places
- a strange sight
- got to the beach
- weather
- Many volunteers are now
- a danger to
- seals that live
- If the seals see
- a local official warned
- Food washing
- She asked people to
- thousands
- near the beach
- cleaning the beach
- report any new food
- people
- the environment
- of bananas
- onto the beach
- the bags
Beach-goers (1) _________________________________________________ sight this week. A beach (2) _________________________________________________ French fries. Thousands of bags of (3) _________________________________________________ of ships. Bad weather caused three containers from a ship to fall into the sea. One of the containers got to the beach. (4) _________________________________________________ found the fries. He said: "(5) _________________________________________________, it looked like the golden sand of a Caribbean beach." He said the chips and chip bags were 75 cm (6) _________________________________________________ places.
Many volunteers (7) _________________________________________________ the beach. The local man said the chips (8) _________________________________________________ to the environment. He is worried about seals that (9) _________________________________________________ beach. He said: "If the seals see the bags, they will. try to eat them." (10) _________________________________________________ warned people to be careful. She said: "Food washing onto the beach (11) _________________________________________________." She asked people to report any new food. Last month, (12) _________________________________________________ washed ashore near the same beach.
Put a slash (/) where the spaces areBeach-goerssawastrangesightthisweek.AbeachwascoveredinFren chfries.Thousandsofbagsoffriesfelloffofships.Badweathercausedthr eecontainersfromashiptofallintothesea.Oneofthecontainersgottoth ebeach.Alocalmanfoundthefries.Hesaid:"Fromadistance,itlookedlik ethegoldensandofaCaribbeanbeach."Hesaidthechipsandchipbagsw ere75cmdeepinsomeplaces.Manyvolunteersarenowcleaningthebea ch.Thelocalmansaidthechipswereadangertotheenvironment.Heisw orriedaboutsealsthatlivenearthebeach.Hesaid:"Ifthesealsseetheba gs,theywill. trytoeatthem."Alocalofficialwarnedpeopletobecareful. Shesaid:"Foodwashingontothebeachmaybeharmful."Sheaskedpeo pletoreportanynewfood.Lastmonth,thousandsofbananaswashedas horenearthesamebeach.
Student surveyWrite five GOOD questions about this topic in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper. When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.
(Please look at page 12 of the PDF to see a photocopiable example of this activity.)
Discussion — Write your own questionsSTUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)
(a) ________________
(b) ________________
(c) ________________
(d) ________________
(e) ________________
(f) ________________
(g) ________________
(h) ________________
STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)
(i) ________________
(j) ________________
(k) ________________
(l) ________________
(m) ________________
(n) ________________
(o) ________________
(p) ________________
Free writingWrite about this topic for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner’s paper.
Answers(Please check your answers against the article above.
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